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DA I LY U P DAT E S AT G A Z E T T E . N E T
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
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Purple Line’s impact grows
Shipshape on the canal
Study shows more jobs, money headed to region if rail line is built n
BY
KATE S. ALEXANDER STAFF WRITER
More than 27,000 new jobs, $2.2 billion in new income and $12.8 billion in property value would be added to the region if the Purple Line is built, a new study says. However, the study’s author said those benefits won’t arrive until at least five years after the project is complete. Transportation Economics & Management Systems Inc. of Frederick studied the economic impact of the Purple Line in 2010. On Monday, it provided updated figures
BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Volunteers Janet Stotsky (left) of Bethesda and Shannon Williams of Washington, D.C., clean the historic Charles F. Mercer canal boat during Saturday’s eighth annual C&O Canal Pride Days at Great Falls in Potomac. Volunteers cleaned the boat and tavern, and planted trees on the grounds.
Writer’s Center starting a new chapter n
$2.2M Bethesda project gets state help BY MARGIE HYSLOP SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, a mecca for authors, poets and other wordsmiths in the area, is getting a major expansion, with help from a $310,000 grant backed by state bonds. The project is one of 18 in Montgomery County that are getting a boost from state bonds approved by the legislature in the session that just ended. The center, which offers writing workshops for adults and children, is adding another floor to the building at 4508 Walsh
St. The $2.18 million project will add 3,600 square feet to the facility, which already includes a 185-seat theater, classrooms, offices, a lounge and 18 library-type carrels where writers can work in quiet. The new floor will add four classrooms, offices, rest rooms and space reserved for the nonprofit Veterans Writing Project, which offers free writing seminars to active duty military personnel, veterans and their families. Construction, which is expected to be complete in May 2016, also includes installing an elevator and other renovations to make The Writer’s Center building fully accessible to people with physical disabilities, said the center’s executive director, Stewart Moss. The $310,000 in state funds was the second-largest chunk approved by the legisla-
ture for a Montgomery County project. The biggest, $350,000, is going to a help buy, renovate and equip a building in Rockville to house an outpatient mental health clinic, a medical clinic and the county women’s shelter. The full cost of the Rockville project is estimated at $6.8 million and is to be paid by a combination of state and county grants, agency financing and a $2.5 million fundraising campaign. Consolidating the services in one location at 2 Taft Court will enable clients of the mental health clinic and the women’s shelter to have continued access to services by public transportation. Clients will also benefit from having a medical clinic on-site.
See CHAPTER, Page A-10
to a group of business leaders from Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. According to the report, the project will have greater economic impact than originally thought. The Maryland Transit Administration commissioned the firm to County appeals c o n d u c t ruling on Purple the initial economic Line fence impact n Page A-11 study of the line. Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and the Greater Washington Board of Trade commissioned the update, Alexander Metcalf, the firm’s president and author of the report, told reporters after his presentation.
See PURPLE, Page A-11
District ponders pairing schools Plan would shift Rock Terrace students to Tilden in North Bethesda n
BY
LINDSAY A. POWERS STAFF WRITER
A recommended plan would pair Rock Terrace School and Tilden Middle School, providing both with a new facility and opportunities for disabled and nondisabled students to mix, Montgomery County Public Schools officials said. Interim Superintendent Larry Bowers proposed housing about 1,200 Tilden students with about 100 from
Rock Terrace in Rockville on the same nearly 20-acre site on Tilden Lane in North Bethesda. The school system is looking for a better facility for Rock Terrace, which serves developmentally disabled students and is in an aging building from 1950. Pairing the special education school with a general education school could mean state dollars for the project. The state might not put money toward a construction project for a stand-alone special education center, according to Bowers’ recommendation.
See SCHOOL, Page A-11
Disputed driveway in Chevy Chase leads to court fight, jail time n
Feud stems from 2010 BY
VIRGINIA TERHUNE STAFF WRITER
The affluent town of Chevy Chase may be a small community of a thousand households, but it’s also home to a big dispute between two next-door neighbors on 44th Street who have been waging a multiyear legal battle over their shared driveway. Arthur and Linda Schwartz, who bought the house at 7200 44th St. in 2008 and replaced it with a bigger house, won a judge’s approval in February to repair and maintain
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the shared driveway because it’s deteriorating. The project, undertaken over the objections of neighbor Deborah Vollmer at 7202 44th St., is now complete, but Vollmer wants the original driveway — a grassy band between two concrete strips — to be restored to its original design. Vollmer is appealing the judge’s order, citing a 1928 easement that states the property owners on either side of the driveway are equally responsible for maintaining it. The pending appeal is only the latest salvo in a divisive five-year dispute between Vollmer and the Schwartzes involving civil suits and countersuits
— even criminal charges. The case is a classic example of what can lead to an ongoing and costly conflict when a neighbor objects to someone buying a lot, tearing down the existing house and building a bigger one. The Schwartzes’ attorney, Steven Nemeroff, said the house was built legally and according to regulations. “The house meets all the laws and regulations of both the county and the town of Chevy Chase,” Nemeroff said. But Vollmer, a retired lawyer and longtime Chevy Chase resident, said she wants the character of the
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neighborhood to stay the same. She also said the current trend of building “McMansions” in older neighborhoods reduces tree canopy and exacerbates flooding problems. “I have a lot of fond memories here, and I don’t want to see them go,” said Vollmer, who grew up in her house. Vollmer tried to stop construction of the Schwartzes’ house by suing them in Montgomery County Circuit Court, but she lost the case and also lost on appeal. Meanwhile, in a separate criminal case, Vollmer was found guilty in
See DRIVEWAY, Page A-7
Volume 4, No. 14, Two sections, 28 Pages Copyright © 2015 The Gazette Please
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TOM FEDOR/THE GAZETTE
Deborah Vollmer doesn’t like what her neighbors have done to their shared driveway on 44th Street in Chevy Chase.